English explorer Henry Hudson devoted his life to the search for a sailing route through America, and became the first European to navigate the river that now bears his name. Yet his experience and levelheaded leadership were not enough to prevent the disaster of his final, fatal voyage. Historian and anthropologist Peter Mancall chronicles Hudson's 1610 expedition, when his small ship became trapped in winter ice. As provisions grew scarce and tensions mounted, Hudson failed to grasp the implications of his own behavior in the eyes of his increasingly desperate crew. Fatal Journey reveals the undoing of the great explorer, not by an angry ocean, but at the hands of his own men.

"[The author's] facility with primary sources is astounding. The story of Hudson's last voyage becomes, in his experienced hands, a lucid, fascinating lens into early Atlantic explorations. The book bristles with action, details about ship life, insight into British laws (the mutineers were found not guilty), and jaw-dropping accounts of encounters with Americans."—Minneapolis Star Tribune